


I hope you're happy

by Northflower



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 18:53:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18946822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northflower/pseuds/Northflower
Summary: Sasha says a little too much and gets an angry crowd running after her. Leopardstar tries to protect her.





	I hope you're happy

Leopardstar had always been nervous whenever Sasha spoke.

At first, she was able to blame it on the fact that the other she-cat was of mysterious origins, and Leopardstar had never been that fond of strangers. Sasha had been a potential threat to her Clan, yet just like that, Tigerstar had brought her in with him. She never stayed for long, but her voice sounded weirdly distorted; you could really hear that she didn’t belong to the forest at all. The way she moved was odd as well, and she didn’t have the same strength in her legs as the Warriors. Her fur was too light and got messy easily. Her pathetic attempts at washing it were so sad that despite her disgust, Leopardstar tried to help her. Up close, her weird smell was even stronger. Leopardstar could not stand her, and for some reason, despite the fact that she was so obviously feeble and so quiet, she couldn’t help but think that she was dangerous somehow. It was illogical, but it took Leopardstar a long time to realize that.

Then, she concluded that her hatred for the undeniably quite nice she-cat stemmed from how she walked so close to Tigerstar. Leopardstar could see why he liked Sasha. Despite her appearance, Sasha could get quite fierce at times. She certainly wasn’t the smartest or the toughest, but those few times that Leopardstar had decided that Sasha needed to learn some defensive battle moves, her claws were sharp on the spotted she-cat’s ears. Her tongue could be quite sharp as well, so it was no wonder that she and Tigerstar got along. Around Tigerstar, Sasha was quiet. But at night, Leopardstar could hear their hushed voices from her den and it was as though her blood was boiling. She would grit her teeth and wonder if Tigerstar would be in her den instead if Sasha wasn’t there. But she could never bring herself to think like that in the daytime. Sasha was such a fast learner, and even though it was obvious that she could never be as good a fighter as the RiverClan warriors, she was certainly trying hard to become better.

She started getting more and more quiet as moons passed, and the rare times that she would speak she would snap at anyone or anything, even Leopardstar. The rogue took distance from Tigerstar, but instead of feeling better, Leopardstar was angry. After a particularly bad outburst, she would lie awake in her den, and in the morning, Sasha was gone. Leopardstar had dug her claws in the moss. She had hated herself for trusting Sasha for even a heartbeat, for thinking that she could be one of them. She’d known from the start that Sasha was trouble, from her voice, her movements, her smell. How could she have been fooled to think otherwise? Tigerstar was killed. It didn’t hurt as much.

Now, however, those times had passed, and Leopardstar was nervous for an entirely different reason. Sasha had always been bold and unafraid to speak her mind. The leader appreciated her for it, but right now, she wished that the pale she-cat would just shut her mouth.

Mothwing and Hawkfrost looked ever so slightly uncomfortable, but Sasha held her head up high, raising her tail as a challenge as everyone stared. Leopardstar silently prayed to StarClan that Sasha wouldn’t provoke them any further.

“ _Tigerstar_ is their father?” a WindClan warrior gasped in shock after the long silence that had fallen on the four Clans. Leopardstar’s fur bristled as more and more Warriors lowered their ears. She wished she had the courage to step up to defend Sasha, but her paws were as though frozen to the ground. How could she, after already being associated with Tigerstar? Instead, she tried to get eye contact with Sasha, but the other she-cat was determinedly looking the offending warrior straight in the eyes.

“So what? He was a strong, capable leader,” she hissed. Many warriors yowled in protest. Leopardstar managed to make a small signal with her tail, and her loyal Clanmates started to protectively gather around Sasha, although many seemed hesitant. The protests were becoming louder.

“He murdered my son!”

“He led dogs to our camp!”

“He brought BloodClan here! We could have all been driven out!”

The situation was spiraling out of control, and Leopardstar could see that Sasha had already run out of things to say in her defense. With a leap, one of the offending warriors tried to get to her, only to be quickly lashed at by Mistyfoot. Mistyfoot, out of all cats… Leopardstar felt gratitude as she nudged the now nervous-looking rogue away from the masses and they both sprinted away.

The angry howls of their own Clanmates and the other cats slowly died down as they got further and further away from them. They ran until they were met at the edge of the river, with a drop so deep that it had taken Leopardstar’s clanmates’ lives before. They stopped to heave for a moment before the leader lashed her tail and yelled:

“Why did you tell them that Tigerstar’s their father? Everything would have been alright if you’d just kept quiet!”

Sasha looked taken aback, but not for long before her eyes narrowed down into slits.

“What should I have done? Lied to them?”

“I can’t understand why you’d ever bring that up around them! Some of them lost their families to Tigerstar!”

“Maybe because unlike you, I’m not afraid to speak my mind! You’re too busy pleasing everyone who keeps you in power to ever say anything!”

“I keep trying to help you, but you always screw everything up, you- you kittypet!” Leopardstar yowled, and only realized her mistake once the words had already left her mouth. Sasha was bristling with anger.

“So that’s what I am to you? Just a stupid little kittypet?” Leopardstar steadied her breath before responding:

“I didn’t mean it.”

Sasha huffed angrily. The leader couldn’t help but feel terrible. She knew that Sasha hated being called a kittypet and was deeply insecure about her origins. A particularly loud yowl was heard from afar. Leopardstar flinched.

“Look, it doesn’t have to end like this. We can go back. I can tell you what to say to calm them down. You just need to explain how horrible Tigerstar was to you, how you’re his victim as well,” Leopardstar suggested. Sasha looked away.

“I don’t want to be a _victim_.”

Leopardstar approached Sasha and sat beside her, pressing against the smaller she-cat’s fur.

“I know. But if you do as I tell you, then you could come live with us permanently-“

“Not this again-“

“-to live with Mothwing and Hawkfrost.” Leopardstar paused before adding:

“And me. You could keep your old name. Or you could even live just outside the territory. But you need to apologize.”

Sasha was quiet, as though thinking, before replying with determination in her voice:

“I don’t want to. I’m not going to do that.”

Leopardstar looked at Sasha questioningly, and was met with a gaze that was strangely… happy?

“I’m going leave.”

Leopardstar felt her heart drop to her stomach. Sasha was going to leave, again? She could remember how horrible the last time had been, how she’d missed their sparring sessions, how she’d been so worried that something would go wrong, how something _had_ gone terribly wrong, how she’d had to sleep beside Sasha for a moon afterwards because she still had dreams of her lost kitten… Leopardstar knew that what she was thinking about must have been showing on her face, but surprisingly, Sasha just chuckled.

“And you can come with me.” With those words, she started running beside the ravine.

“Sasha, wait-“ Leopardstar hurried after Sasha, but was cut off.

“I’m serious! You keep telling me to stay, even though the solution has been here all along! There are so many places I know you’d love… This one hill, where it’s all quiet and you can see the stars… Oh, and the waterfall! Have I told you about the waterfall? It’s got tiny fish swimming in it, and it sparkles in the moonlight…”

“I can’t!” Leopardstar yowled. Sasha slowed down to a stop, facing away from the Clan leader.

“I would like to, really,” Leopardstar explained, and then continued with a sterner voice:

“My Clan needs me.”

Sasha was quiet, and her tail which had before been so high in the air had now been lowered.

“I thought you would say that. I just hoped that…” Sasha didn’t continue her sentence. Leopardstar moved alongside her for comfort, and suddenly, Sasha spun around and pressed her soft face into the golden cat’s fur. Leopardstar, though surprised, returned the embrace and they stayed like that for a while. They were cut off by a battle yowl from behind them. There were cats in the distance, chasing after them. Leopardstar looked back at them with worry and felt Sasha leave her side. But when she looked back at the other she-cat, she didn’t look scared at all.

“Well then, see you around,” she purred.

“I’ll miss you.”

And that was the last thing that the sleek she-cat said before abruptly starting to sprint towards the edge of the cliff and leaping into the sky. Leopardstar’s stomach lurched. For a while it looked like the leap was too short, but then it was as though Sasha could fly, and she landed on the opposite side just as the angry Clan cats reached the place where Leopardstar was standing, dumbfounded, words stuck in her throat.

“I’ll miss you too!” she had time to yowl, before Sasha sprinted out of the reach of the few skilled Warriors who decided to attempt the dangerous jump.

“And don’t come back!” one of the Warriors remaining on Leopardstar’s side of the river yelled after the escaping she-cat.


End file.
